Colourful Birds of Madagascar

Four species, three of which I've actually seen (and I think I may have heard a Rock Thrush).

Forest Rock-Thrush; Pitta-like Ground Roller
Yellow-bellied Sunbird-asity; Paradise Flycatcher

More Mad Mutant Bunnies

Naked molebunny: This little guy is naked because fur is unnecessary when you live in the ground. His ears are reduced in size to reduce friction and his feet are longer to act as shovels. He has small eyes and only limited sight. His whiskers have developed into sensing tendrils, which he uses to locate food - his main diet is insects and worms.

Dust Bunny
This teeny tiny little bunny lives in the urban environment, specifically human habitations. She favours untidy, cluttered homes. Measuring only a few inches in height, she is a hoarder of small and useless bits and pieces - paperclips, coins, rubber bands, scraps of paper, which she uses to line her nest. When danger threatens, she curls up into a ball, resembling a great puffball of dust. But be warned, because if she is picked up or touched, she does have very sharp teeth.

Mega Bunny
This extremely large lapus evolution is found in woodland. He uses his short trunk to drag down branches and strip them of leaves, which he eats. He also uses his sharp inscisors to strip bark from trees.

Beach Bunny (my favourite)
Ths little Beach Bunny makes her home on sandy shores, where she feeds on kelp, as well as small molluscs, crabs and worms. She dips the tendrils at the side of her mouth into rockpools and uses them to sense her prey. If frightened, she curls up into a ball, protected by both her overlapping armour plates and the cryptic markings act as camouflage. It has been found that Beach Bunnies living in different environments are coloured to match their habitat.

Wedding of the Dead

My second instalment in the Circle Journal swap - which now means that I have no more to do until next year!! This was - like the first one - for someone who likes dark, creepy etc scenes. As you know, I am not highly skilled at dark nor creepy. Conveniently, she also suggested I might like to do something Tim Burton-esque and listed in her profile that she was quite partial to Catrinas.

Not knowing what Catrinas were, I did a little google search and decided that yes - that is what I would do.

Initially I intended to do a Graveyard picnic, but alas, that did not do so well - Catrinas look wrong sitting down, so then I did a little bit of a search for "goth brides" and found some lovely cake toppers. Which I pretty much just copied. But the cat, horse, squirrel and bird are almost original. And the graveyard is our local Barbadoes cemetary - except the gravestones are standing up. I had some pictures of it that I'd taken for the "cemetary photo swap".

This was fun, and kept me up until after midnight on 31st October - All Hallow's Eve. I was contemplating starting on my NaNoWriMi novel after midnight, but it was hard enough to colour, let alone to write.

AFA logo 2012

The ATCs for All gathering is in Portland, Oregon, next year. And I AM GOING! My husband and I have been planning an Epic USA roadtrip for some time now - and 2012 will be the year. Our route is epic and will take us through 8 states and goodness knows how many cities - but we'll be sleeping in around 18 different beds...

Anyhow, I decided to design a logo for the AFA gathering. It was supposed to be a simple graphic - and as you can see - mine is not particularly simple - thus it will probably not be considered appropriate, but I thought I'd show it off.

It depicts the State (Oregon), the State bird (Western Meadowlark), the State insect (Swallowtail butterfly) and the State flower (grape).
PDX apparently is the airport code.

Bunny Evolutions

I decided a month ago that it was high time I hosted another "Original Species" swap, and thus I began one. There was just one problem. Unlike my previous OS swaps, I was not working on a fantasy noel with original critters in it, and thus I did not have any previously designed critters that I felt like drawing.

Never mind, I decided to undertake plan B, which was to choose a current, extant animal species and develop mutations and adaptations to it so that it could fit into a different habitat or different habits. I just had one hard and fast rule with this - the creature had to be biologically realistic - so no lemurs with bird wings, for example.

I decided on rabbits. Because... well, who doesn't love bunnies?

Here's my first seven adaptations/evolutions:

Predator Bunny
This vicious lapine has muscular shoulders and powerful jaws, making him capable of bring down large and heavy prey. His fur is patterned in an array of stripes and spots, allowing him camouflage against his savannah habitat.

River Bunny
Sleek and long, this water lapine has short legs with powerful webbed feet. His ears are greatly reduced in size, creating less resistance when he skims through the water. His tail has developed long and flat to provide a paddle. His eyes are positioned high on his head, allowing him to emerge only a short distance to see over the water.

Arboreal Bunny
This fuzzy little critter has longer and more flexible fingers than his terrestrial counterparts. His tail is also longer and fuzzier, providing him with balance as he scrambles through the tree tops. Probably his most interesting adaptation is the symbiotic relationship he has formed with a type of mistletoe. The sees of this plant bury themselves in his fur, and grow, providing him with camouflage.

Insectivore Bunny
Note the prehensile nose on this wee fellow. He uses it to sniff for ants and other insects, which he then unearths with his strong front paws. His fur has developed into spines, which protect him from Hunter Bunny below.

Browser Bunny
His toes have fused into something that is almost a hoof, making him even faster across the ground than his ancestors. His colouring provides him with some camouflage, breaking up his body so that it is harder for the Predator Bunny above to track him down and make him dinner. He also prefers to browse leaves, rather than graze.

Sea Bunny
This lapine has increased his body mass, the extra fat providing insulation against the chill bite of the water. His whiskers are highly developed, allowing him to navigate through deep water. His toes have fused together, forming efficient paddles when combined with his powerful hindlegs. As in the River Bunny above, his ears are greatly reduced in size to decrease resistance. He grazes on kelp and often lies on his back, exposing his pale belly to the sky.

Hunter Bunny
This fellow actually looks a bit like Furret, a Pokemon. He is long and sleek. His tail has developed into a fine plume which helps him balance as he pursues Arboreal Bunnies along tree branches. Although he also hunts Insectivore Bunnies in the long grass and his long, low form makes him an efficient hunter of ancestral bunnies as well. He is a generalist omnivore, and will eat fruit or even grass, but his preferred diet is meat.

I still have another five to develop for the swap, so if anyone has any suggestions on habitats or behaviour types I might like to experiment with, let me know. Other ones I am considering are an armour-plated bunny and an urban/city bunny. Maybe I should create one that predates specifically on birds. Hrm, so much potential here...

Also, if anyone can help me come up with decent names, I'd be very grateful!

My Muse - the story behind "LemurKat"

Once upon a time, a long time ago, I was not LemurKat. My online moniker was "Raynflower", named after a character I had played in a long-running role-playing game. She was a dark faerie, and she was pretty nifty. But... let's not get into her.

I first created Kataryna Lemusu when I fell into the Furry fandom circles. I needed a fursona - so what better than to use a ringtailed lemur? An animal that I enjoyed watching at the local zoo, where I did weekly volunteer work. Her name - Kataryna - was derived from the ringtailed lemur's latin name - Lemur catta which I eventually blurred into one word, to become "LemurKat". I have now held the moniker for around 10 years, and when you search it on google, what you will find is mostly me (except any really embarrassing stuff - obviously that's someone else).

At some point, Kataryna committed suicide. I was going through a down period in my life - don't ask me what it was - I can't remember, and I drew a particularly savage picture of her with slashed wrists.

But, thanks to Anubis, guardian of the Afterlife, Kataryna rose again, as an angel. Her fur turned silver and she sprouted wings. But with her new form, came a great responsibility - she had to save the world.

So began the Furritasia Chronicles. And never finished...

After I grew out of the Furry-biz, I still clung to Kataryna. She lost her humanistic characteristics, and took up a role instead as my muse. She has starred frequently in my art - with wings, without wings, sometimes with golden eyes, sometimes with blue. Sometimes dressed in costumes from various times and cultures. Masquerading as Frida or the Mona Lisa, or transformed into a My Little Pony. She graces the backs of many of my trading cards.

And she also had a starring role in "Lemurs: A Saga", without her wings, playing the part of Fiantrana, Aurelia's foster mother.

This is my latest rendition of her - designed to become a t-shirt print. Featuring a Malagasy Sunset Moth and Vanilla Orchids - look for her at AFA 2012 in Portland.

Here is a collage of Katarynas, in a multitude of incarnations:

Deus Ex Machina

It is a common feature in stories - a cliche, you might say. A deus ex-machina - an act of god that saves your character in a time of need. A time when all hope seems lost and the writer has truly painted themselves into a corner and must face that, the most unsavoury of choices - killing off a main protagonist. Well, my situation was possibly not quite so dire - for the villain was not about to kill the protagonist - merely capture her and take her to the Queen (whom might indeed kill her. Or brainwash her. Or worse.) And I am quite sure that Aurelia could have gotten herself out of the situation had the Deus ex-machina not occured.

In fact, the Deus ex-machina resembles more a "frying pan/fire" situation.

Still, I cannot help but feel a small spasm of guilt at having to use such a common plot device.

What do you think?

The black sifaka was fast, faster than the fossa. She dared not risking back to see how close she was, but she could hear him, crashing through the branches. Smell him. A strange mix of smoke and blood and something cold and flat and dead inside. Up, she scrambled, up as high as she could go. Up to cling to a slender branch. It began to sag under her weight. Her eyes met Noir's. Fires seemed to flicker in his irises, his lips drew back in a feral grimace.

"You're mine now,” he growled. Then his eyes widened, staring at something beyond her. Something up in the sky.

Aurelia followed his gaze, turning her head just in time to see great, clawed talons reaching for her. Felt them close about her as a gigantic eagle plucked her from the branch.